Insta
China’s Zangmu dam on the Yarlung Zangbo/Brahmaputra River. (Google)
China is on course to build a mega dam in Tibet that will produce triple the amount of electricity than the world’s largest power station Three Gorges. This dam will bridge across the Brahmaputra River and the waterways will thus flow into India after leaving the Himalayas.
This project is set to churn out around 300 billion kilowatts of electricity annually. The local Tibetan government had signed a ‘strategic cooperation agreement’ with hydroelectric project-specialist public construction company PowerChina regarding this project last October.
However, this initiative reportedly threatens the migration of fish and also the flow of sediment that enhances the soil quality amidst the seasonal floods downstream.
On the other hand, the Indian government is considering the construction of another dam on the Brahmaputra to bolster its own water reserves.
Political scientist Brahma Chellaney wrote in the Times of India last month, “Water wars are a key component of such warfare because they allow China to leverage its upstream Tibet-centred power over the most essential natural resource.”